Brand Killer!

The exchange list appeared as a 5x5 grid, with twenty-five exchange options on each page.

How many pages were there in total...

Sorry, no idea!

In any case, Zhou Zhe clicked with his mind at top speed over ten thousand times and still did not reach the end.

"Processing Methods for the Hearts of Gods from the Olympian Pantheon," worth 1 Gladiator Point.

"Roasted Archmage Brain," worth 1 Gladiator Point.

"Edible Guide to Water Deity Kidneys," worth 1 Gladiator Point.

"The Taste of Remembered Fear—Complete Guide to Making Secret Cthulhu Dumplings," worth 1 Gladiator Point.

"Grab It and Profit Big! Six Hundred Ways to Cook the Recyclable Ingredient Azathoth!" worth 1 Gladiator Point.

"Cooking Immortal," worth 1 Gladiator Point...

They were obviously books made to fleece idiots out of their intelligence tax.

Even the titles were fucking absurd.

Zhou Zhe could not even be bothered to click in and check the details.

Besides...

Judging by the rather brutal cover, the word "cooking" in Cooking Immortal was definitely a verb, right?

And "immortal" was the object?

Why were they selling this utterly useless garbage to a newbie Black Iron Gladiator?

Was it specifically meant to disgust people?

As for the fact that each exchange only cost one Gladiator Point...

Get lost!

He would not take them even if they were free!

"Can I search directly?" Zhou Zhe asked.

Brand 3A0113 at your service: No. Black Iron Gladiators have no human rights. You can only search one by one yourself; you cannot narrow the search range.

What a pain!

Zhou Zhe sighed and compromised. "Then can I spend Gladiator Points to directly search for the exchanges most suitable for me?"

No. Here, I'll throw you an explanation. Read it yourself: To encourage Cosmic Gladiators to work hard and raise their ratings, they must receive differentiated benefits and privileges. Jealousy is one of the strongest driving forces for progress among High Sapient Lifeforms.

"One of them? What are the others?"

Zhou Zhe was intrigued.

Purchasing this information requires 1 Gladiator Point.

"Money-grubbing bastard. Even if you didn't tell me, I could guess."

Zhou Zhe curled his lips. "Nothing more than the shadow of death, revenge, dignity, faith, desire, and the like."

Reading novels did have its benefits.

Just think of those hit webnovels, and one could roughly tell where the strongest source of motivation came from.

If you knew, why did you ask? Carbon-based monkey with abysmal time efficiency! Utterly stupid!

Zhou Zhe: "..."

Could he report this bastard?

He had never seen such terrible service!

At a time like this, should he put on a show, slap it in the face, buy like mad, spend all his points, and show that he was actually a filthy rich tycoon?

Forget it!

He would not do something as brain-dead as boosting this sharp-tongued freak's performance. Zhou Zhe hated people with foul mouths like this most of all!

"Brand 3A0113, right? I'll remember you!"

Remembering me is useless. Thinking of taking revenge? I've already saved enough money! Tomorrow, I'm quitting and heading to another plane to get married! My partner is the Little Fairy Raising System. It counts as a fair-skinned, rich, beautiful system in the Endless Planes! Jealous? Envious? Hate me? Hehehe... Poor trash like you, who has only won one arena battle, I've seen plenty over my thirty thousand years of work! If you hadn't accepted an exclusive mission, did you think the Wisdom Law would personally receive you? What a joke!

Such low-level trash talk...

Zhou Zhe felt no ripple in his heart. He even wanted to laugh. "You've been working for thirty thousand years?"

"Then Cosmic Arena Combat has been running for at least thirty thousand years?"

"My math is not that good, or I could reverse-engineer it from your employee number and calculate an exact figure..."

"Thank you for providing that information!"

"I'll definitely find a professional to work it out later!"

"Come to think of it, you won't get docked pay for giving me such valuable information for free, right?"

"The way you run your mouth is a little pathetic, but honestly, pretty handsome."

"If you can talk, then talk some more."

Brand 3A0113: Despicable! I *****...

"You're panicking, you're panicking!"

Brand 3A0113: ****!

The warm-up was complete.

Just as Zhou Zhe was about to get serious, a cold mechanical prompt suddenly sounded by his ear.

Wisdom Law: Brand 3A0113 has been detected violating the laws. It provided Gladiator Zhou Zhe with intelligence worth more than 10 Gladiator Points free of charge without receiving any Gladiator Points. Eradication is hereby carried out.

Eradication complete!

Brand 4A1220 is connecting...

The trembling Brand 4A1220 is at your wholehearted service!

Brand 4A1220: Because 3A0113 was eradicated, the Dao noticed your existence and asked me to pass along a message.

"Earthling, there is no need to feel grateful. Although I killed this planet's ordinariness, it was by no means out of goodwill."

"Alright... I got it. Thanks."

With Brand 3A0113 erased for violating the rules, Zhou Zhe suddenly felt everything was rather dull. "Stand down for now. There's nothing troubling you at the moment."

With the scam-ridden exchange service provided by the Black Sword Shield Brand, finding something suitable for himself was harder than ascending to heaven. Who knew how much time it would take?

Could he directly spend points to make a wish?

It was not impossible, but doing so would consume far too many points.

If the attendant he summoned was a coward like Brand 4A1220, it would be fine, since the service fee would not be too high. But if he carelessly summoned the Wisdom Law or some goddess-model supercomputer that was black-hearted to the core, he might go bankrupt in an instant!

After thinking it over, Zhou Zhe decided to activate Self-Configuration and give himself a multitasking configuration.

That way, he could search for suitable exchanges while doing other things.

The mysterious notebook was still reliable.

Originally, Zhou Zhe had been somewhat worried that the configuration would fail.

But that was clearly the foolish man who worried about the sky.

His new attempt with the Self-Configuration talent succeeded!

His thoughts temporarily split into two streams, neither interfering with the other.

Drawing a circle with his left hand and a square with his right was as easy as snatching something from his hand, as effortless and natural as breathing or drinking water.

Just as Zhou Zhe was preparing to search for suitable exchanges while studying his exclusive mission, the mysterious notebook gave another prompt.

You have obtained a new title...

Brand Killer: Deterrence against incorporeal lifeforms +1, lethality +50%.

Note: Titles from different fields can stack without limit and take effect simultaneously.

The Brand Killer title should have come from that dead bastard Brand 3A0113.

Its attributes were quite good, greatly and effectively broadening the scope of his strength!

When facing opponents such as spirits, wraiths, and vicious ghosts, he would have far more confidence!

As for "titles from different fields can stack and take effect simultaneously"...

That was easy to understand.

The titles Brand Killer and Blademaster were clearly not from the same field, so they could function at the same time.

But titles like swordsman, sword hero, sword king, sword lord, sword saint, sword god, sword immortal, and sword master clearly could not stack.

He guessed...

Titles of the same type would overwrite one another, and only the title with the strongest effect could function.

By now, the data displayed in the mysterious notebook had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to the beginning.

Name: Zhou Zhe

Talents: Absolute Comprehension; Self-Configuration.

Skills: "Wind Element Body Tempering Technique" (4/4)—physique greatly increased, agility greatly increased; Swift Wind Blade Technique (3/3)—damage dealt while wielding a blade moderately increased.

Extraordinary Organ: Heart of Heavenly Tribulation (Qianfeng Tribulation Lightning), from the low-magic xianxia world Cangxin Continent, development rate 0%.

Titles: Blademaster, Brand Killer.

Not bad...

Zhou Zhe felt the thrill of leveling up and getting equipment drops in a game.

His sense of accomplishment was overflowing!

Though the only piece of equipment he had was still a blade that had not been acknowledged by the mysterious notebook.

The Dao's reward was truly excellent. The Heart of Heavenly Tribulation containing Qianfeng Tribulation Lightning possessed dual wind and lightning attributes, perfectly matching his current state.

That 0% development rate was a little glaring, but there was no good solution for now—this thing would naturally grow over time, so there was no use being anxious.

Now...

It was time to study the exclusive mission the Dao had given him!

"Within two months, train three apprentices whose combat power reaches Black Iron Three-Star."

233

Those numbers were easy to remember.

"Black Iron Three-Star... I'm only Black Iron Four-Star myself, right? I haven't even reached Black Iron Five-Star, the peak of the Black Iron rank."

How did he know that the Black Iron rank only went up to Five-Star?

Zhou Zhe noticed five tiny stars on the Black Sword Shield Brand on the back of his hand. Four were filled in and seemed to bulge outward, while the remaining one was empty.

He had managed to reach Black Iron Four-Star in a week because he had cheats and had received the Dao's reward.

For ordinary Earthlings to reach Black Iron Three-Star within two months, it truly would not work without some talent!

The question was.

Where could he find three exceptionally gifted apprentices?

Should he use the Swift Wind Pavilion's intelligence network to seek out people who might be the "variables" the Dao spoke of?

Or should he simply buy the number one trending topic, post an apprentice recruitment notice on Weibo, hold open auditions, and then organize a competition?

With supernatural topics being so popular now, and with him having shown off his strength in the finale arena battle, he should be able to enter the top ten even without buying a trending topic, right?

As Zhou Zhe searched through the exchange options while pondering how to complete the exclusive mission, the strange melody of "counting sheep" suddenly rang beside his ear.

The caller ID read "Zhang Miaoran."